Keep sending prayers to CHINA :-)



They sent Caden a birthday cake!

He is mesmerized with the IPAD already

at the park

 

Everyone is asleep. It is Thursday morning. Yesterday started off well but was a little difficult a moments throughout the day. We have a morning routine of heading to the hotel breakfast at 6:30am before anyone else arrives. This is the top floor, which has a gorgeous view of the city and lots of coffee! It has all kinds of foods and the kids enjoy it. Isaiah is beginning to get comfortable so he is going from the shy almost 2 year old to the rambunctious one who wants to get out of his seat. Our time went from an hour at breakfast to about 30 very quickly - this is good right?!! Each day brings new adventures. Keeps us on our toes? It is getting a little hard being confined to our hotel room but luckily Ryan and I try to take a moment each day to get out and enjoy something for an hour. We can’t really get out easily go see things with where we are in the process. We are just trying to take each day as it comes and each moment the same way. If all are in a good mood, we go for a stroll each morning all 4 of us and try to discover something. It’s relaxing and fun. Lots of people stare at us, head turns, haha. David told us we are foreigners and some don’t ever see, we stick out with blond hair! 

 

We do lots of play time in our hotel room and let the kids play, the floor space is spacious and they are comfortable there pulling out all their toys. We try to do dinner each night by stroller, but the hard part is trying to keep Caden awake past 5pm. Luckily this morning he woke up at 3:30am but he went back to sleep and is still asleep I think today all will sleep until 6am!!!! Of course I have been up though. I don’t mind as long as they sleep and I know I won’t have grumpy kids! ;–)

 

Yesterday, Ryan was sweet and let me get a massage. I am carrying some stress, obviously because in the midst of all our joy there is a lot of uncertainty. And uncertainty means lack of control to me! LOL. Not good for me…but GREAT for growth. I need it so challenge away challenge away. I am learning in the gentlest way to just live in today ONLY. I am such a planner, that I never really knew the things I needed to work on in me, until change happened in an instant. CHANGE IS UNCOMFORTABLE BUT GOOD. A motto for life. I have also learned that being protective of my flaws instead of being open to letting go and growing in them…will never allow me to blossom. There is a lot of freedom in letting go and pulling the walls down to those protective areas. There is a lot of liberty is realizing God shows us these areas not to be unkind but to let us grow beautifully as He designed us. Every season of life involves a chance to grow. Right when I thought this adoption/season had taught me all I needed to know, He showed me ‘girl the journey is just beginning’. Ryan and I will 110% grow in faith, love, respect, marriage, friendship, wisdom, and so much more from our sweet Isaiah. He will be a constant reminder to me that he coming into our lives took me from one place to a far better one. Thank you sweet boy. While we have lots of hiccups and bumps right now, this road is a beautiful one to great places for us all. It will all get better. It will….

 

Yesterday was hard; we realized that Isaiah eats a lot because…he is an orphan. We studied this and were told this. Luckily, yesterday Ryan visited the orphanage and was able to take photos of his first 2 years in what was his home and family (things he will inquire about when he is older) and he was able to ask questions about Isaiah. They cared for him so well. Isaiah's birth family loved him, it is likely by the facts of wha they know that poverty was an issue so this was a better life for him. Makes my heart so sad, but I find peace in knowing they loved him too. ...so he has been at the orphanage since 4 months old and he is almost 2 now. The orphanage explained his regime was very strict. The sleep, the 2 meals a day of rice, and kept quite simple. Ryan said the orphanage was actually a very nice one. So as a result yesterday we had to move all the snacks we brought and hide it in a drawer. He could see the food and wanted it constantly. He was fussy a few times throughout the day, as any child but it’s hard to not know is it because he is tired or sad? That can be hard. Ryan has been great. The types of life adventures definitely can strengthen a marriage. I am so thankful for him. 

 

So I close out before starting Thursday, our last day in Hangzhou where Isaiah is from….please keep praying for us. With lack of sleep, a delicate child, and a family spending time 24/7 in close quarters in a foreign country, can bring mental exhaustion at moments for this mom and dad. But the hotel staff has been amazing (we prayed for this) another God Wink! Pray for us to have peace, wisdom, favor, and protection over the next week before we come home. Pray for my little Lane too, you mothers know how hard it is to be away from our kids, I miss her so much :-(

 

 

Things we learned about Isaiah today:

 

•   He will eat just about anything and everything, EXCEPT MEAT! Likely he hasn’t been fed meat if ever. Ryan literally said before he gave him a bite of bacon, 'oh this boy will love him some bacon’, if you could have only seen Ryan’s heart break when he spit it out.  ;-( JK  - we will work on this when we get home…

•   I took Caden and Isaiah to the playground next door. This child is so smart you tell him once and he gets it! He learned to even swing in one try! Upon returning, he walked off the elevator and led the way to our hotel room. Does this almost 2 year old already remember all the turns and familiar doors to which one is ours? YES! He led us straight to our door about 2 lefts and a far walk down. Unreal. 

•   He says SI SHI a lot, which means thank you in Chinese. He picks up my water bottle and brings it to me and says SI SHI. 

•   He learns words quickly. Caden says a lot and Isaiah is already saying tickle, hey, thanks, ma….His favorite is HEYYYYYYY (southern already!)

•   He is attaching to both Ryan and I but if I walk out of sight he cries, he wants to make sure I am still there. I realize this will be an ongoing process as we adjust to building trust. However, I left yesterday for an hour and Ryan did awesome! AMEN TO THAT!

I hope I can encourage anyone reading this, as in any trial there is always a purpose. ALWAYS. God doesn’t allow disappointments and heartbreaks without a purpose. Ever. Bad things are not from him. But he takes the broken and builds it back even better when we let him and when we TRUST HIM. I have seen this in Isaiah. Gotcha day was depressing for Ryan and I. October 24 every year in between my Mom and Caden’s birthday will be a reminder of sadness for me. It was just not a good day for any of us. A lot of brokenness. But in that broken place is a beautiful chance to let God pick up the pieces and build something even better. I see now, that THINGS DO NOT happen overnight and things often don’t happen as we desire for them too, because we just don’t know best for ourselves, period. As we are a parent to our child, our HEAVENLY FATHER is to us. We are children learning how to live life. The obstacles and road bumps bring heavy hearts but ones full of joy and happiness when we dig in and find the rainbow underneath it all and THERE ALWAYS IS ONE if not many. Gold is refined through the fire, ground is broken before plowed, as so our life is shaken before it overflow full of His goodness. Whatever you are going through…just trust me, He is in control. If you ask for His help He will guide you, He is always with you. It’s such an amazing thing. I hope we all can continue to encourage each other and lift each other up! Life is full of beautiful paintings and each brush stroke in our lives creates one more stroke to seeing the bigger picture of it all. 

 

Keep praying for us!!! PLEASE! I miss my Lane. Adopting overseas is like having a baby but with no family with you so I get a little sad when I miss my family....but we are receiving so much favor and peace (hat is needed) from all of your prayers.

MY DEVOTION TODAY how fitting